November 11, 2010

He was 91. His name is attached to some of the greatest films ever — notably "La Strada" and "Nights of Cabiria" — and some all-out trashy pop entertainment — like "Bararella" and "Mandingo."

Here's a list of his 166 movies. How many of them have you seen? I've got to say I've managed to steer clear of de Laurentiis films. Other than "La Strada" and "Nights of Cabiria" — 2 of my favorite films, directed by Fellini — the only one I've seen — and we watched it for a laugh — is "Conan the Barbarian."

I never saw the de Laurentiis remake of "King Kong," which was filmed in New York City in 1976. I was living there then, and I remember the open invitation to anyone to come down to Lower Manhattan to be in the crowd scene. I considered going but didn't. I read this article in the NYT on June 22, 1976:

Drawn by 1930's nostalgia and 1976 excitement, a horrified crowd of more than 5,000 New Yorkers surged past police lines at the World Trade Center last night on cue and fought its way to the spot where a giant gorilla lay dead after a 110-story fall from the North Tower.

The ape, constructed of styrofoam covered with horse hair and bleeding a mixture of Karo syrup and vegetable coloring was of course King Kong, the resurrected star of the 1933 thriller being remade by Dino de Laurentiis.

Ah! The unreachable past! When the the death was fake and not even human. What absurd fun we had!

The extras cheered when a technician climbed on the chest of the fallen 40-foot ape to replenish its oozing "blood."

60 comments:

I had the opportunity to meet Giada, his daughter, on a number of occasions in advertising functions. She is a real deal, natural person and had great respect for her father and her family life. From decent persons come decent persons. Rarely the opposite.

Waterloo (about the battle, not the train station) is one of my favorite films ever. Rod Steiger as an aging Napoleon, and Christopher Plummer as the Duke of Wellington, were perfect in their roles, as was Dan O'Herlihy as Ney. Plus, they got the battle right, which almost never happens in movies. Had to borrow the Spanish Army to do it...

Ulysses, Goliath and the Vampires... when my parents would drop us off at the local theater for an entire afternoon of bad monster movies, junk food and other screaming kids throwing things at each other.

Barabbas and Barbarella. Both viewed at drive in movies. Drive in movies a lost experience that kids today will never get to appreciate. Barabbas when I was young and my parents took us. Barbarella as a teenager with a bunch of friends. Nothing like a drive in movie on a warm California summer night.Seen either on television reruns or video cassette.

Man Called Sledge, Death Wish, Ragtime, The Bounty, Conan the Barbarian, Three Days of the Condor, Dune and Red Dragon The last two because I had already read the books.

Probably saw others on the list but I can't remember. You know...the 60's

Dino was great. I'm embarrassed how many of his pictures I've seen (and smoked pot to) but he had that habit of mixing great shit with *great shit* so, if you were into films, you had to take him seriously - like Zappa.

He lived a good life, and provided us with lots of laughs. And it's funny, because that's what I really remember:

On a dollar for dollar basis, the De Laurentiis King Kong was one of the worst movies of all time if for other reason than it launched the career of Jessica Lange, an actress we could have done without.

I agree with Hank regarding Waterloo, one of the best war films of all time, IMOH. However, Hank is in error on one point. The army used in the film was Soviet, not Spanish. Waterloo was a joint Italian/USSR production with Ukrainian director Serge Bondarchuk handling the battle scenes, work have never been equaled. Bondarchuk managed to capture the the spirit of the conflict and many important details, particularly the fight for Hougoumont. The uniforms, the weapons, even the terrain and the mud were brilliantly realized. Anyone, even someone who has never studied the Age of Napoleon can watch this film and come away with a good knowledge of the issues, the whys and wherefores of the Hundred Days.

There only three errors of fact that I detected:

1) Ney was not with 5th Regiment of the Line when they attempted to block Napoleon on the road to Grenoble.

2) The charge of the Scots Grays was not so dramatic. Eyewitnesses say that the Scottish horsemen dispersed Derlon's grand column at a walk.

3) During Ney's mistaken charge French cavalry are seen descending a steep embankment at least 12 feet high. The sunken road was well below the level of the surrounding terrain and did slow and weaken Ney's horses, but not it's not that deep, it's six to eight feet below mean at most.

Accuracy and high drama, it can be achieved - De Laurentiis prove it can be done. So there, mister smartypants Spielberg.

Thanks, DBQ, for reminding me about The Bounty. For some reason I cannot fathom that film simply flopped. It had a powerful cast, lots of gorgeous Polynesian babes sans tops, and it told the story of the fabled breadfruit voyage faithfully (well, mostly faithfully, it went off the rails on two points, one very minor and the other crucial)

Thanks, Quaestor, for the correction. I went to Wikipedia and read the entry for the movie (had never done that before) and now it makes perfect sense. I had wondered how they got the battlefield to so closely resemble the historical location, and now I know the answer: Soviet bulldozers.

One comment about the charge of the Royal Scots Greys as depicted in the movie (hope I'm more right about this than I was about the Spanish army): I believe that whole scene was filmed the way it was to set up the shot that matched the famous painting Scotland Forever by Lady Elizabeth Butler. Even though she was wrong about the charge (as you noted), it made for a great scene.

You're absolutely right about the charge scene being a tribute to a painting. BTW the Royal Scots Greys was the name that regiment acquired after WWII when it was merged with the Royal Scots for budgetary reasons. In 1815 the Greys were officially the 2nd Dragoons.

I'll take the opportunity to point out that "Manhunter", the first adaptation of Thomas Harris' "Red Dragon", is a vastly underrated film. Although eclipsed by the later "Silence of the Lambs", Michael Mann does a fantastic job bridging the gap between the traditional detective film and what would become the serial killer genre. And he does it with a style and flair that would be missing from later films based on Harris' work (even "Silence of the Lambs").

Yes, the art design screams "80's!", so it appears a little dated today, but it's still a great film.

And it makes the best possible use of Iron Butterfly's "In A Gadda Da Vida".

I'm looking at the list. I've seen a bunch. He did a lot of very good movies, many not great but very fun entertaining popcorn movies (Flash Gordon / Army of Darkness both have great dialog), but there is one that is just horrible. I mean horrible... And no. It's not Barbarella.

What ever you do. DO NOT see "Body Of Evidence". It is just absolutely inane and stupid. The clincher dialog for Madonna, revealing her secret to the three men involved in her life?

"I fucked you, I fucked you, and I fucked you... That's what I do. I fuck!"

Althouse said: "we watched it for a laugh — is "Conan the Barbarian.""

Hmmph. Harrumph, even.

Conan is one of my favorite films. And just the other week, you criticized my favorite movie of all time, "Schindler's List". I think your critique was something along the lines of 'just a bunch of actors hamming it up.'

You know what I just watched for a laugh? That risible campy "La Strada". A circus strong man beats and rapes a passive mime who...falls in love with him.

Bleccho.

I think Dino had to do those Charles Bronson movies as a palette cleanser after this rancid treacle. Or maybe as redemption.

Of his stuff, I only saw the Conan movies, Anzio (ghastly in its lack of accuracy and its attempt to milk the anti-war 'Nam thing), and Battle of the Bulge (more factual, Robert Shaw walks off with the picture). The latter two are cheapie attempts to make a couple of bucks off The Longest Day.

Battle of the Bulge was a pretty crummy war pic, but I'll watch it none the less. BTW, Ken Anakin, whom Dino hired to direct, was a second unit director on The Longest Day.

There is one scene in B-of-B that really did strike me as dead on -- Hessler's attack has just driven a battalion of front line GI's from their positions centered on an old West Wall bunker in headlong retreat. Then from the swirling gray mists tanks and panzergrenadiers materialize. Except that the tanks are postwar M47's it could have been newsreel footage.

Battle of the Bulge was a pretty crummy war pic, but I'll watch it none the less. BTW, Ken Anakin, whom Dino hired to direct, was a second unit director on The Longest Day.

Zanuck had 3 directors, one each for the American, British, and German scenes. Annakin wasn't a second unit director, he did all the scenes with British actors (Burton, Connery, etc.). It's probably why DeLaurentiis picked him.